After the attack on Fort Sumter, students asked permission to raise the Stars and Stripes over University Hall. At the flag-raising ceremony, according to the diary of Henry S. Burrage, Class of 1861:

“Dr. Sears made the opening address. He said he deprecated civil war. He regretted the necessity that is laid upon us. But the time for deliberation is past. Every man is called upon to show himself worthy of the country of his birth.”